Highland 2015 – Some personal impressions
Barbara and I have taken part in all but the first Scottish 6 Day events and we weren't going to miss Highland 2015 which was based round Inverness. As in 1999,when many WIMs worked on the World Champs Relays at Aviemore, the World Championships returned to northern Scotland and we all enjoyed a week of varied O activities with little rain and quite a lot of sun.
Highland 2015 was the largest O event ever held in Scotland with over 6000 competitors so we made quite an impact on the area, hopefully in a favourable way. As we joined the 200m long queue to collect race bibs, programmes etc. at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness the sheer size of the event and its truly international nature hit us.
The area round the Moray Firth is quite a surprise. It's not like the Highlands but a bit like Denmark- Gently rolling fertile farmland, mostly growing grain, extending for miles and after a very wet season the farmers were harvesting all hours of the day and night taking advantage of a largely dry week which we also thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe it was the familiar scenery but it certainly suited the Danish World Champs team!
The first day of competition was held south of Nairn on a glorious, windless day with a car park assembly area set high in the foothills of the Cairngorms. Barbara and I became temporary members of GRAMP, spending the first half of the day manning download. It was a real pleasure to meet, although only briefly, so many familiar and famous faces as they passed through the system. Between the car park and the run in a huge grassy slope provided a natural grandstand that became filled with hundreds of people. An Orienteering version of 'Henman Hill' at Wimbledon! The rough semi-open terrain tested everyone with furrows a nasty tail on most courses, but you can read much more about each day on The Highland 2015 website. The website has photos, maps, results, Route Gadget and lots of interesting comments, well worth reading
Living within walking distance of day 1 it was easy to retreat, repair bumps and bruises and regroup for the next day, which was in Strathfarrar about 60 miles away and very definitely in the Highlands. Parking vehicles for 6000 people is a challenge, the more so in remote areas. Strathfarrar is off the beaten track and we knew that it would involve a 2 k walk to assembly. Narrow approach roads and difficult access to a rather damp parking field resulted in a tail back extending over several miles and a lot of people were late for their starts. However the sun shone, the assembly area was close to the Start and Finish and the open moorland part of the terrain was like the Lake District, the forest wasn't!
The 'Rest' Day on Tuesday allowed all sorts of activities. We went to the urban sprint race at Forres. This was a joy to take part in with an intricate course round the centre of an attractive small town ending up in the local park. The locals seemed to be happily bemused by streams of runners running round the town and the local community had got behind the event with many shops having Orienteering themed window displays.
Later in the day we re-visited several of the picturesque coastal fishing villages along the north Moray coast and enjoyed stunning views north across the Moray Firth to Sutherland. Really world beating quality!
Darnaway Estate has a long history in the annals of Orienteering , being the location of the first World Champs. in 1976 so it was fitting that the event should return in 2015 for both the Middle Distance and the Relays. The car park and assembly were set in well drained meadows sloping up to the gardens of Darnaway Castle and as events took place over 3 days the traders had almost formed a shopping mall where you could sit in the sun and enjoy the view and almost inevitably encounter friends..
The woods at Darnaway are mostly open beech with little or no undergrowth with lots of contour detail left over from the ice sheets! Straight line navigation paid off and the technical courses were a pleasure to tackle.
Parts of Darnaway Day 3 (left) and Day 4 (right) - click to enlarge
© Crown Copyright 2015 OS 100015287
For the first time in the UK the media got involved with the local BBC Alba TV channel covering most of the World Champs competition live. You could watch it on a huge screen in assembly. We hosted a tea party for WIMs back at our accommodation and all enjoyed watching the action live on TV. The coverage was brilliant for Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay events and everyone got quite excited with Kevin waving the Union Jack during the last part of the Relay.
The final two days were located in Glen Affric again 60 miles SW into the heart of the Highlands. Friday was both the World Champs Long final and day 5 of the Six days.
Daunting pre-publicity telling of long walks to the start, very early start times and massive climbs meant that some of us decided to go elsewhere, and Barbara and I enjoyed a lovely day out in the North-West Highlands ending up at Ullapool We had only just parked the car when we were greeted by a couple of orienteers from KERNO who had made a similar decision to miss day 5 and as we walked round Ullapool we saw several others! We have been told that the day was indeed very challenging and stories abound about vegetation, very steep ravines and windblow. I hear that as competitors reached the finish they were given a map to help them find the assembly/car park!
The final day at Glen Affric was dry and windy, but unforseen parking problems had forced the organisers to park some vehicles 3- 4km away from assembly and people then had to have lifts. We took a family of Norwegians up to assembly who of course spoke perfect English and on the way back a Canadian couple combining the 6 Days with a tour of Europe. We really enjoyed acting as an impromptu taxi and the chat was fascinating. The terrain was that used for the World Champs Long race and involved a massive climb to the start and then a steady descent through rough and in places windblown coniferous woodland before a finish across open rough moraines.
Did we enjoy it? Well Barbara is now rather more challenged with Parkinsons than previously and only did 3 days, and I just have to accept that advancing years reduce speed. We both thoroughly enjoyed Darnaway and would not have missed the overall experience of the event and its atmosphere. We love Scotland and finished our stay by moving south to Deeside and getting value for money out of our National Trust Membership by visiting 3 castles in one day. Deeside is the venue for the next 6 days and we hope to see even more WIMs there in 2017.
John Warren
We would like to thank Wendy Carlyle and Chris & Simon Branford for these photographs
Taken on Day 3 (above), Day 4 (below)
Fort George panorama by Simon Branford
More photos of Scotland 2015 at
Scotland: https://www.flickr.com/photos/owls-count/sets/72157656780428268
Sprint Qualifier: https://www.flickr.com/photos/owls-count/sets/72157656780469398
Sprint Final: https://www.flickr.com/photos/owls-count/sets/72157656780442908
Spring Relay: https://www.flickr.com/photos/owls-count/sets/72157654864716753
Day 5 – GLEN AFFRIC SOUTH
With a 2 hour drive to the event arena and a 3km walk to the start the day started early for the first Wimborne runners. There was a lot of concern amongst the organisers about the car parking, due to the heavy rain in the preceding day/night (what it rains in Scotland I hear you all say!) and it was only confirmed at 22:00 the night before that the event would in fact go ahead.
On arrival at the arena it started to rain again so a quick establishment of the club tent was in order.
Having spoken to people who had run there before we all knew it was going to be tough, but not to the extent that it was. The map on first impressions indicated white runnable forest for the most with lots of intricate contour detail, but the reality was different. It was extreme under foot, at knee height, waist height and head height. The presence of lots of very large windblown trees and years of brashings meant it was a very different proposition. In fact there was no part of your being that was not physically assaulted by the forest at some point.
Getting round the courses was demanding with times ranging between 64mins and 188mins for the 7km long 300m climb M50L course, with an average time of 104mins. This was more than an orienteering course with most routes course requiring some level of skill in mountaineering, bog snorkelling, canyoning, limbo dancing and hurdling, sometimes all at once. As one of our group said your route choices was “compromised by luck”.
Having said all of that I had my best “run” of the week, but I suspect that was because everyone else slowed down to my pace rather than me improving mine!
I would like to propose that the Royal Marines use Glen Affric as the final proving ground for those training to become commandos!
Andrew French
Background photo by Simon Branford